Good Transit Needs More Than Frequent Buses
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- čas přidán 6. 06. 2024
- In this video, I discuss recent ridership trends and how RTC has failed to design Virginia Street in a way that encourages people to traverse the built environment outside of a car.
0:00 Introduction
1:14 Reasons for Declining Ridership
5:03 Why Virginia Street Has Two Buses
9:48 The Problem with Meadowood Mall
10:58 Virginia Street is Really a Stroad
15:59 Importance of Walkability and Density
21:00 Conclusion
Twitter: / yurbanist
Sources:
RTC Service Changes
www.rtcwashoe.com/public-tran...
RTC Transit Fixed Route Bus Operating Statistics
www.rtcwashoe.com/wp-content/...
RAPID Virginia Line Plan
www.downtownmakeover.com/10-6...
Strong Towns - The Stroad
www.strongtowns.org/journal/2...
Strong Town - How to Turn a Stroad into a Street (or a Road)
www.strongtowns.org/journal/2...
Confessions of a Recovering Engineer
www.confessions.engineer/
How Far By Which Route and Why?
transweb.sjsu.edu/sites/defau...
Access Walking Distance, Transit Use, and Transit-Oriented Development in North York City Center, Toronto, Canada
www.researchgate.net/publicat...
Stroads are so disgusting and dehumanizing. But, the one silver lining about them is that since they're so wide, it won't be too difficult to retrofit separated cycle paths / dedicated transit routes in the future.
I dunno if I'd call it a silver lining. Aluminum foil, maybe...
I can hope the next to useless center turning lane running through the closest stroad to me either gets converted to a tramline or they push the lanes of traffic together and put tram/bike on the sides
The book Street Fight: Handbook For An Urban Revolution really opened my eyes to how much space can be coaxed out of oversized lanes. "You'll find millions of [kilometers] of sidewalks, bus and bike lanes, and public spaces - entire cities - trapped within our streets."
This street looks so ugly. It's depressing to look at it.
vegas is doing that on one, they have room for two dedicated center transit lanes, two bike paths going both ways, and 4 lanes of traffic
"You don't make a bus faster by reducing how many times it stops. You make it faster by not having it share traffic with other cars."
Well said!
Only true if it gets stuck in traffic.
but the thing is that north american buses stop way too much, which is only when it gets slowed down. once your bus is only stopping once in a quarter of a mile, it really doesn't matter (this the case in europe where buses can operate on narrow streets and still run on time, and where people and bikes are what buses share space with, not moving cars)
Reminds me of an article on car and transit infrastructure in Portland. Basically, since transit ridership was declining, and supposedly since more people preferred to drive from a survey of people in *the entire state of Oregon*, the argument was that we should invest more in car infrastructure. Nothing addressing why ridership could have been declining. Nothing explaining why a survey of the whole state was used to represent Portland. It's unfortunate.
Ah Oregon, a state that is hostile to ALL forms of traffic. Yippee!
@@brianisbrined9255 And to everyone else! YAY! /SARCASM
because ford or gm probably paid for the study
The fact that stroads even exist at all is absolutely mind-boggling to me. Like seriously, what on earth were they thinking
That question implies they were thinking.
They were thinking that the -bribes- lobbying from the oil and car industries seemed pretty convincing
They were not designed, they developed organically over decades. Stroads usually started as a stretch of highway on the outskirts of town, traffic increases and businesses developed along the highway to service them, then residential housing was built nearby, extending the town outwards.
Literally they were
1)We should let cars on these roads (in the 20s)
then
2) 1 more lane will solve the traffic
We were high on car dependency!!!! 💪🚗
"A car isn't going to run you over in a discord server".
There is a slope on one wall next to my apartment. Over the years it had slumped a bit and the dirt had risen above the waterproofed area. I got some rot in the wall and moles were getting in. They came to do the repair. They had to get a backhoe in. I was sitting at my computer out in my living room when the maintenance guy hit the wall with the backhoe. (Thankfully I'd gotten up, it was right along the wall where my bed is.) It broke a couple of the studs in the wall and snapped the drywall along the entire wall into 4 giant sections.
"A car isn't going to run you over in a discord server"
Definitely stealing this one, thanks. Super depressing but made me chuckle.
If there were a bus stop within, say, a 10-minute walk from my house, and if I could ride/transfer to a bus stop within a 10 minute walk of my work, it would make sense for me to commute by bus rather than by car.
20-55 minutes, you say. Too many bus stops in the US are set up to be 1.5 hours, 20 minute walks to and from with a 60-90 minute cycle on the route, (if your bus shows up).
Ride-hailing apps cannibalizing transit ridership is definitely a real phenomenon that has been studied academically. A lot of those other explanations are pretty ridiculous though.
It really just comes down to the fact that people with the means to do so will buy a car rather than put up with terrible bus service.
ride sharing apps also illustrate, ironically, that we need less car-based transit, if that many people have/are willing to use someone else's vehicle.
The real key phrase there being "people with the means to do so."
Those without are, at best, an afterthought in most North American roadways.
2 key points in your comment.
1. People with means
2. “Terrible” bus services
Not everyone has the means. But the local governments are being irresponsible when they allow public transit to become “terrible” it’s completely avoidable.
Stroads are the horrible alternative to good infrastructure that moves people efficiently.
@@Amsteffydam Also there’s gonna be people with means to buy a car but they can’t drive for various reasons. Maybe they’re older and it would be dangerous for them to drive in for other people around them or maybe they never learned how to drive for various reasons or maybe it stresses to too much for them for medical reasons.
@@enjoyslearningandtravel7957 Or maybe they're disabled and unable to safely drive. There are so many valid reasons for not using a car that it's infuriating that cities in NA _still_ haven't used the extremely good solutions already out there.
The whole Route 1 and Virginia Line thing happened exactly the same with the Route 84 and A Line in St. Paul, MN. They added a “BRT” line that only stops every half mile at most. It has no dedicated lanes, and it’s barely faster than the Route 84. The 84 was later reduced to every 30 minutes on weekdays and every hour on weekends. Then in December 2021, the Route 84 was suspended indefinitely. Now the A Line is both inconvenient and unreliable and there is no local bus service along the route. Connections to other routes were made extremely awkward by this too. There aren’t even places to transfer to some routes that intersect with the A Line.
Highly disagree with the A Line being inconvenient and unreliable. It is 30% faster than the 84 and has increased ridership by 30%. As far as not being able to transfer to routes intersecting with the A Line that's just no true. The only instances where this happens is when the local routes travel on Snelling for a short distance, but they all still connect with the A Line.
For example the 21 doesn't have a stop for it on Snelling and Marshall but it does have a stop to transfer on Snelling and University.
Don't get me wrong though dedicated lanes on Snelling especially from St. Clair to Minnehaha are desperately needed for this route. But this was the first aBRT line that MT built. On the B Line, D Line and E Line dedicated lanes are planned for various portions and I fully expect the F Line on Central to have dedicated lanes too.
E scooter to local stops
@@qjtvaddict Maybe that would be viable if they didn’t get rid of them for the winter and if there were any safe way to ride them on Snelling (which has no bike lanes at all)
@@qjtvaddict Works for those young (but not too young), healthy and with good balance. Assuming they can find e-scooters.
Good transit needs to work for everyone.
Awesome vid. Every time a transit agency scales back frequency due to low ridership, it feels like they're throwing away vegetables from the fridge to accommodate more junk food.
Things like parking minimums, stroads, etc can't coexist with robust, reliable transit systems.
I love that analogy!
"It leads to a lot of confusion" he says at 6:43 while recording two giant Grecian columns holding a sushi and oyster bar in all glass called the Sky Terrace at the Atlantis casino...which is even more confusing. Trying too hard to copy their Vegas cousins
As much as people talk about our metro and say the passengers are actors, our system is a lifeline that keeps the city moving because it works. If Reno had a proper metro system, it too would keep the city moving.
Making transit actually usable and convenient is a huge deal. In Alberta, there’s talk about (finally actually) building HSR between Calgary and Edmonton - most likely airport to airport. Sadly, neither city has rapid transit connecting to the airports… So I can see headlines now “Prairie Link Deemed Failure: No One Wants to Ride!” But it’d be because it’d be inconvenient to ride. Of course, those factors are often overlooked.
Same problem with cities that build 1 bike lane for one block and then complain that no one uses the nice bike lane! Well… How?! It’s like building a road in the middle of nowhere.
Screw the airport. Go downtown & have a better national system, especially a $30 ticket that gets just a seat in a coach with only power, heat & washroom (eat before, after trip & bring your own food). Here in Toronto, there are Alberta calling ads. I do not want to go due to lack of car free transit & lack of renewable/nuclear power. I can drive but I hate car commuting, especially if I drove a bus or truck again. After several to a dozen hours of driving job, it sucks to be driving without pay & operating at my expense. I would rather be a bus or train passenger, no more responsibility, cheaper, I can relax by reading or watching videos on cell data. I hate car commuting even more if I drove for work for hours & if we have too many stroads, unskilled "drivers," too many red lights that are not dynamic, too many stop signs, etc.
@@Saucy-ws6jc You’re preaching to the choir 😂 I can’t speak to Edmonton, but Calgary is getting much better.
Building a high speed rail connection between two airports sounds really stupid. A large part of the benefit of HSR is that it immediately drops you into the city center, whereas airports are out of the way. That would be like parking your car halfway to work, so you'd have to walk for 30 minutes before you could drive the rest to work. It defeats the entire purpose and just makes it an exercise in futility.
@@aabb55777 Most of the population lives in and between Calgary and Edmonton. The two cities have a lot of business and leisure trips going back and forth. For many, it’s also visiting family. There’s a decent case to be made for transit between the two.
(Not to mention the safety in weather good or bad of HSR vs driving the QEII Highway.)
@@aabb55777 Also, a lot of flights currently go Edmonton to Calgary where you get a connection. So its not just trips within the corridor, the HSR would be for really any trip out of Calgary
Edit: any trip out of Edmonton, not Calgary
here's the thing: I'm from Germany, which loooooves cars. But I'm also from the Ruhr area, which is compact and high density a.f.
basically everything I know has a parking lot, with only a few exceptions. Yet the walkability is still enormous. Because parking is mostly "im Hof" (behind the building) or in a parkhouse, which basically stacks the parking vertically, mostly under the shops (sometimes in a seperate building)
huge parking lots do occur, but are not a nessesity for every shop. (plus we DO allow what most of N.A. would classify as "mixed used" in normal residential zoning.
When I see these giant stroads it looks realy deserted, but I have to admit the last time I visited I was 7 years old, that was 23 years ago. So I cannot tell if my impression of these shots are correct.
no you have the right impression
Man lebt ganz anders in Amerika. Nicht vergleichbar. Leute sind abgehauen von den Innenstädten nach dem 2. Weltkrieg weil die Suburbs waren schöner, neu, und man hat mehr Spaß.
Wenn es Geld zu machen wäre in Wohnräume in Innenstädten, der Privatmarkt würde es bauen. Sie Ökonomie ist sehr effizient hier und die Bürokratie weniger als in Deutschland oder Niederlande.
No unfortunately it’s still true that there’s still giant Strodes and huge parking lots in fact even more than seven years ago in most American and Canadian cities.
@@aabb55777 did you use googel translate to write that gibberish? why didn't you simply reply in english, as everybode else on this english speaking video?
I know my comment was quite rambly, but my point wasn't about what is better in an economical or beaurocratic way (why even start that!?!)
my point, to clarify, was that if you were to put the store buildings on the street and direkt the cars to a parking space behind or below the actual building the stroat itself wouldn't look as lifeless.
I live in Norway and agree that parking those not have to be as obnoxiously placed. Rather I would like for the local government to control certain parking garages so that the parking price is lower for parking garages than street and surface parking. This would also reduce backlash when surface parking or street parking is removed if there is otherwise sufficent parking houses. Of course local business should also be allowed to build them within the limits set by the local government so that they could provide free parking at shopping malls or other destinations.
the closest bus system to me is the next town north or west if that. I can't even bus to school without driving 5 minutes north.
that's sad
It's frustrating that the changes needed aren't expensive tunnel digging or track laying, but a simple change of a map and driver instructions and some road paint, yet nothing gets done
we should give voters two choices: subways under the road, with the extra cost over above ground funded by extra vehicle registration taxes on cars in the mile radius, or take away a lone or two of traffic for at-grade separated light rail and no extra tax. I'm sure they'd learn to live with fewer lanes rather than pay the premium
@@PlaystationMasterPS3 Or more likely they vote for the candidate offering more lanes
@@squid9882 Yeah, most likely a conservative Republican who only supports car infrastructure and doesn't give about improving public transit. In fact, most of them want to see transit go away.
Democracy is a meme when the voter base is filled with apathetic, prideful, and uneducated citizens.
I feel like the US would benefit more than other places from dedicated bus lanes near the median of the stroads, they would give people more places to cross the road and while the wait would be uncomfortable at least it would make possible to cross the road at a reasonable place rather than having to cross 6-8 lanes at once
A large intersection here in Canada (Canmore, Alberta) was turned into a Dutch style intersection with refuge islands. You only have to cross half the road before reaching a safe point, instead of the entire thing in one go. Every single major intersection in north america should be designed like this. Honestly it's wild to see Dutch style infrastructure being built here. Look up "canmore alberta intersection".
I prefer the bus lane in the right hand lanes because it makes it easier to walk up to the bus, and provides buffer room between people walking and traffic. Just avoid to many lefts. But, this has the benefit of requiring signal priority.
Also in areas for walkers to cross they need to make turning right for car drivers illegal because it’s too dangerous for walkers even though they have a crosswalk and a signal.
I almost was hit by a car even though I was crossing with the walk signal plus on the crosswalk. The car driver did not even see me till the last moment either she was looking at her phone or she didn’t expect for a walker to be in the crosswalk I suppose
She was turning right on a red light as it is legal to do but it’s very dangerous for walkers.
It's frustrating how many different interconnected problems there are. It's almost overwhelming and difficult to know where to start if you're trying to improve a certain place. But really to boil it all down, it's all a question of transit and land use. And the simple principle that literally almost anything is better than a parking lot.
personally I say do everything at once as you can. if you had to deal with a chicken and egg problem, do transit first. low ridership through a low density area is OK, since you can then infill it later, but it's tough to build dense parking-free housing if there's no transit line nearby. zoning reform can be done at any stage, preferably earlier since it doesn't force anyone to do anything per se. parking reforms near transit is an ideal policy that should be pushed as hard as possible. not having any parking minimums is of course better but if you have to compromise do near transit since then you're all ready for when said transit goes in for redevelopment
"continued employment provides people with sufficient income to buy and drive cars" ah yes, the whole "only poor people use transit" trope. Despite the fact that I once lived in Jersey City which has a light rail system that stops at Newport Centre, (checks notes) a big mall which y'know...is pure capitalism. Many people who work in NYC choose to live in Jersey City because of the transit's convenience like buses or the PATH. Not to mention, Jersey City is cheaper than NYC. And I now live on Long Island where many people take the LIRR to get to work, and it remains the busiest commuter rail in North America. Plus Grand Central now has East Side Access for those who work on the eastern side of Manhattan. The NY Tri-State is lucky to have transit this great.
The people of Reno, on the other hand, aren't so lucky because in these other parts of the country, governments (or people in general) choose to judge based on stereotypes rather than the truth. Gustavo Petro said the truth at 2:41 and he's not even from the US! He became Colombia's first leftist president for a reason
Bus service in Long Island is terrible fam improve it then talk
@@qjtvaddict I didn't talk about the bus service (which yes, does suck and should be improved; but the LI politicians don't listen), just the LIRR. The LIRR *IS* great even when people complain about it, because those who complain about the LIRR don't realize how lucky they are when compared to Minneapolis which BARELY has commuter rail.
@@qjtvaddict Blame Nassau & Suffolk counties for that debacle.
i bet those cars are keeping people poor
Nice video. I live somewhere with 'good' public transit and by that I mean a few bus lines that come every 30 minutes and get stuck in traffic. The bus line to my place doesn't even begin early enough for me to start work on time and since they get stuck in traffic it takes the same amount of time to use a car. Because of this and the pedestrian infrastructure not being great means that I drive my car to work everyday for my 1.5 mile commute. Having lived in some bigger US cities, the place I currently live legitimately has the best transit of the places I've lived. Pretty sad
Why don't you walk the 1.5 miles?
@@onetwothreeabc No sidewalks in all likelihood. Have you ever seen "Why City Design is Important" by Not Just Bikes?
@@Cobalt985 I have watched many episodes from Not Just Bikes, so I don't remember if I watched that particular episode.
We don't know if Daniel's place had the side walk. But even if there was a side walk, will he choose to walk 30 minutes, presumably in the dark since the bus hasn't start yet, instead of driving 5 minutes for the 1.5 miles?
@@onetwothreeabc Not everyone has the mobility to walk that distance, and in many areas in the USA, walking any significant distance is a death wish. Also, in some areas the weather doesn't allow for walks that far. My city is so cold in winter that for a couple months, the sidewalks are covered in ice reducing walking speed by nearly half. I genuinely worry about dying walking just a couple blocks.
Of course, that also shows that we need wider, disability accessible sidewalks that actually get maintained in winter, and we probably need more frequent bus service in winter when walking is effectively not an option.
@@onetwothreeabc lots of car traffic, stroads, no sidewalk, also my work is up a hill
Get frustrated when people say less people take public transport because the poor have cars. I live in a country with decent public transport and have access to a car almost whenever (share it with my family) I actively choose to take the train or bus most of the time because I find it a more pleasant experience. I can mostly turn my brain off instead of thinking about others on the road, I don't have to find somewhere to park or deal with traffic and it makes me walk. And while I hated it at the start, now I've done it more, I'm grateful for the walk because it keeps me just a bit healthier and clears my head
it helps your mental health indeed
Fr when you have a job you hate being able to read on the bus or tram or train can make things bearable.
Pls make a video on how to turn a stroad into either a road or a street! I’ll be waiting for that😁
Daily RTC rider on the Virginia line. Just want a consistent bus . You never know when the bus will come it is awful. I bought a bike an commute using that now.
great video
Here in Houston I'm 2 blocks from what could have been a great bus route (#32 Route). The bus connects to the downtown transit center (which is also a place to catch the rail lines), and on the other end it has a stop at the brand new Silver Line (BRT) as it continues to the SW side of town. The Silver Line has dedicated center lanes and bus stops exactly like the rail line. That Silver line also goes to the Galleria Mall (which is a horrendous traffic and parking area) and the newly renovated Northwest transit center. The Silver line is exempt from traffic with its dedicated lanes as it was meant to be a demonstration of what BRT could be like. There is also a LOT more density in the past few years with more mid and high rise condos on that #32 route. There are grocery stores, schools, etc on the route. BUT! What have they done... even before Covid they changed the #32 line from 20-25 minutes to the typical one bus every 30-35 minutes. So frustrating! Plus most bus stops are just a sign, no benches (Houston heat!). They could advertise that you can get to the Galleria Mall easily as a perk. But of course here transit is just a last resort for people that have no other choice.
I wonder: how's the cooperation between RTC and government? Is there any county/regional governance that could also impact RTC? Living in San Diego, buses only became better when our local transit system and governments started working together with the same goals in mind.
And this is why in the netherlands bus routes and public transit often start construction before the houses do in a new neighborhood. So that the bus or train is available when the first residents move in.
Another great video. I'd like to point out how many of your shots had fairly empty stroads. These behemoths are over-engineered for peak traffic volumes. This means that for most of the day they're not even being used at full capacity. There are so many better uses for the space than to hold single-occupancy vehicles for three hours a day. The thing is, people probably wouldn't miss the over-engineered stroads if they weren't built in the first place, but would lose their minds if a lane was taken away now.
I'm not sure if any other young people have weighed in but my friends and I love to hang out and socialize in person! We hang out less often than we'd like to because (1) there's nowhere we can go without driving (this has always been true), and (2) there's nowhere to socialize in public without spending money anymore.
Did not expect to see my country's president be quoted. Good for him.
Great video.
The biggest problem is in getting any support for a road diet; as long as we're on a policy of "more space for cars = better car experiences", which is what Level of Service measures and minimum parking requirements optimize for, every lane is battled over, even when it creates more complex, dangerous traffic. California's just started to diverge from this trend, as with the signing of AB 2097 it's gotten rid of minimum parking near transit, and therefore all the impact assessment changes from "plan for n car trips" to "plan for any form of mobility".
Even so, I believe we will get to a point where Level of Service is gradually drifting upwards despite policy, if the average scale of auto traffic is going down: Higher gas prices drive consumers to downscale to compacts, and the current high prices are likely to stay for the near future. As well, there's an "unbundling of the car" into a variety of services(online communication, delivery, etc.), which many people have written about as a broad shift signalling "peak car," especially post-Covid. Even though auto manufacturers keep pushing for bigger and bigger trucks and SUVs, the headwinds are impossible to ignore: year over year, more and more of daily life is becoming possible without car ownership - even if your city is completely car-dependent!
Downscaling can be pushed a little further by switching from car form factor to moped, e.g. through a dockless share service like Revel, which has proven popular in several major cities. Those can do 30 and do a decent job of keeping up with auto traffic; they could go on a stroad and not feel entirely out of place, unlike bicycles. There are a lot of US cities now that are developing from "low-rise stroad" to "stroad with 5-over-1 housing"; if every one of those had some share mopeds parked nearby, it'd create some mobility with a lighter footprint; it wouldn't be as much mobility per dollar as BRT, but it'd swing the balance towards smaller parking requirements, smaller roads, etc.
god damn reno looks depressing as hell from these clips.
Welcome to the USA.
it kinda is lol, lots of awful stroads
With a bunch of cars, and no one else in sight. It really makes you feel like unwelcome.
Lol he’s only showed Virginia st basically. Reno is super nice and has a lot of nice scenic areas
After having lived in the high transit use Northeast USA, Japan, Germany and Portland. Areas with decent transit where one can live without a vehicle if they absolutely had to. I have found that the lack of transit in the majority of the USA, outside of just a few major cities is for two reasons. One being the US Gov't wants its citizens in vehicles. So its political. It is a big part of the reason the US Automakers, were bailed out some years ago. Now they are not doing so well. The other is the US mindset that only the poor use transit, and the average American feels transit is beneath them. They want a car for everywhere they go. I have never understood that because its obvious, that many Americans cannot afford the car payments, Insurance and registrations and gas. Yet they don't demand transit be efficient, and that there be good access in their communities. They do demand though that gas prices be lower.
So its a two way problem. Refusal by US Gov'ts both Federal, State and County to invest in efficient transit systems. Then The mindset by far to many Americans is they won't ride a bus even in a big Metro. They want their damn car. The transit there is especially in smaller cities ends up being underfunded because of low ridership. It's a losing battle in the USA and its a disgrace. I'll be honest I have at times when I see gas prices rising, that they keep rising and force a change that has to come.
You made an excellent video and I enjoyed watching it. It was very well done. Reno is a perfect example of a transit system that needs to grow up, along with the residents that live there. It is not just the transit company's fault they lack the proper service capacity. If the residents don't put out the effort to use transit it doesn't improve, and most definitely will lose very important funding. A city with a fast growing population pushing 300,000 residents, should not have to be put in a situation. Where it has to operate a transit system, like it is only serving a population of 20,000 people.
Abbotsford and Chilliwack, BC, are some of the most car-dependent places in Canada. The reason everyone there drives is because the buses there run only once an hour or less, and the express bus that connects these two cities and metro Vancouver, the 66 Fraser Valley Express, runs only 8 times a day. The 66 also gets stuck in the highway all the time, I was once stuck on it in a traffic jam for well over an hour at 11:30 pm. It's the complete opposite of Vancouver where transit is actually decent and usuable, largely because the buses are frequent along with a really quick and frequent SkyTrain.
10:03 That bus stop is so far away from the mall. Who's gonna use it to go shopping if they have to walk that far while carrying their stuff. Here in Australia, they practically send the buses to the mall gates. Some malls even have a bus interchange as part of their complex.
In the USA, that's pretty common to stick bus transfer stations in the most useless portion of the mall parking lot. Can't have bus users actually going into our precious mall.
Wow love those super classy Ionic columns at 6:29
I'm almost positive RTC doesn't have the power to give buses priority or change the land use. Those are probably handled at the city or county level. Public transit agencies have to play with the limited deck they have.
keep up the good work.
Still cannot believe that in the 11 years I’ve lived in the area, RTC’s service stops right at Baring Blvd in Sparks and doesn’t extend into the Los Altos, Galleria and Spanish Springs area. I’m so very grateful that I’ve my own set of wheels I and longer have to rely on them for transport anymore, but I feel for my Clients who are constantly dealing with late buses, Routes being cancelled and having to walk pretty far distances to catch a ride in greater Sparks areas.
The transit agency doesn't set up zoning to make an area walkable; the local city council does that. Heck, the city council also probably is in charge of setting up bus lanes too. The transit agency can ask for them, but it is probably the city council who actually decides.
As for reasons why people aren't taking transit, the list sounds typical for such studies nationwide and therefore is probably mostly accurate.
This reminds me of a transit center in San Antonio that is right beside a highway interchange and a mall surrounding by parking lots. It’s very sad
The two RTC routes you discuss sound very similar to Cobb County, Georgia's CobbLinc routes 10 and Rapid 10. The two routes are nearly identical (the Rapid 10 does go further out from downtown Atlanta), but the Rapid 10 also has limited stops along the entire route, including the portion shared with the regular 10. The problem with the logic is that the timetable for both routes is the _exact same_ along the shared portion. Sure, limited stops may save SOME time in heavy traffic, but it's not enough to really make a difference.
30 minutes just sounds crazy to me. That's about what I would expect if I was going to take the bus for a 6 hour ride between cities. Not a 15 minutes one within a city.
Great video!! Love video like this👍 Yes! it's so true how bad transit and route system in U.S. is very bad! Especially in Southern cities We don't have to rely on our own cars and owning more than 2 per family. Its also great for environments!! Many cities should learn from this video and change infrastructure and learn from some other European / Asian coutries.
Honolulu actually do have good transit/route system.
nice video
Just to add. Its nice when sidewalks have trees over them so you dont cook in summer. Bustops also should have some roof or shade, preferably with walls for shelter from wind and sun.
05:45 "You don't make a bus faster by reducing how many times it stops."
There are two bus lines connecting the university to my downtown and downtown to the business district (mostly office blocks, hotels; is that called business district?). One bus is the regular route, the other is an "express" bus (just calling it that here, the city doesn't). The "express" bus has a slightly longer route out past the university, but the main difference between them is that approximately every other stop is skipped (except the popular downtown ones) and due to that the route has one or two shortcuts. On my commuting route the "express" bus takes thirteen minutes, the regular bus sixteen. Between the university and the business district it's be 22 min / 27 min. Does save time.
This is a great informative video that spells out exactly what needs to be done using real examples of a stroad that can be improved to a street!
No idea what it's like in Reno, but where I live, Uber and Lyft has reached the point where it's about on parity with taking a cab, aka status quo before ride shares.
In all likelihood it's much cheaper than it would be without Uber and Lyft. Competition lowers prices
Reno is a city with about 200,000 inhabitants and only 2 bus lines. I live in a town of 20,000 inhabitants and we have 4 bus lines to surrounding cities and transfer hubs. The first bus line going NW (neighboring town, regional bus station) to SE (regional train station) through our town every 30 minutes, on peak times every 15 minutes. The second bus line goes from our town to NE (the capital city suburb , metro, train and bus station). Every 30 minutes. The third bus line goes from our town to S (a small city, train station) every 60 minutes, on peak times every 30 minutes. The fourth bus line goes from our town to E (city, train and city bus station) every 60 minutes. All busses from approximately 6.00 in the morning to 22.00 or 23.00 in the evening. On Saturday from 7.00 in the morning to 23.00 or 00.00. On Sunday from 8.00 to 22.00. The second bus line also has a night bus on Friday to Saturday and Saturday to Sunday, on a hourly basis.
There's a lot more than two bus lines in Reno. Other routes in the video are 54 and 56, and there are others that weren't filmed (Route 12, 2, Lincoln Line, Regional Connector).
LOL bus lines between cities of that population...I live in a twin cities area with populations of 20K and 35K. The 20K town barely has a free hourly shuttle service for 2 routes. The 35K town has a functioning 6 route bus system with 30 minute headways. But because the towns are across state borders, good luck trying to get the states to coordinate a transit service between them. Politicians have tried and failed. Luckily, we have a rail trail so you can still commute by bike between the cities.
5:45 well, make it stop least will make it faster
I have experienced on BRT that i use to go my job in the city i live (Rio de Janeiro) a new line started with a special bus to makes just one stop in the terminal station, the bus was just a terminal stations link, it would not stop in any station in between these terminal stations, the normal bus takes about 40 mim from where I go to the final destination, this special line called Direto ("direct" in portuguese) takes just 15 minutes, however days after the inclusinon of the new line was added two stop and the time was about 20 mim or 30 mim
I know so much about Reno now
There is such an easy experiment towns could do. On a 3-lane stroad, block the middle lane with maintainance signs and cones, and intrude a foot into the right lane. Now cars are forced to choose at the intersection, do i wanna be in the through traffic lane, or the destination lane. Then in the future, when resurfacing comes due or it's decided to be urgent, remove the middle lane, and add traffic calming to the right lane. You just turned your 3-lane stroad into a road, and an access street.
This is such a great channel and I'm glad I found it. I love that it tackles broad issues that many cities face, but it does so by showing and analyzing local, specific examples of the particular problem at hand.
Great stuff!
The problem with Reno and most car dependent places in the US is that cars really are needed just to prosper and car culture is very immense that for most people, owning your own car represents status and independence/freedom. And there's also the fact that cars are relatively easy to get (if you have the money) so most people drive. So we need to make driving or car ownership prohibitevely expensive so that more people use public transportation, thus incentivizing it's improvement, and also change zoning laws in places like Reno to allow for more walkability.
Car ownership is heading that way! There are videos about why manufacturers no longer make those cheaper small affordable cars (in the US) since we want bigger and bigger SUVs and trucks. Right now people are paying over sticker price to get a car. Don't even think of getting a used car.. those have cost a premium for a while due to the high demand and supply chain issues for new cars.
@@rodhoutx Well as a young adult, a lot of my friends (most between 18-20) don't own cars, especially since we go to college and college/university students tend to not afford cars. However I can't say if car-lessness has increased, decreased or remained the same
Wow, Reno is a strode hellscape.
the kind is back
I say: "put all the roads underground!!!"
Enough is enough!!
I love using RTC Southern Nevada's Routes. RTC Reno's version very lackluster & doesn't serve very many locations!
Even when transit is available, they don't run frequently. They run a route that conflicts with time savings.
For instance, 90 percent of buses here in Fayetteville NC run hourly. When you add a transfer, it gets even more time consuming. Than they cut one bus short of traveling the entire street, which forces me to than wait for another bus. When I could have continue on one single bus.
Anyway, I recently took an Uber/Lyft for $35 versus a free bus ride. But I tried to get the bus at the transit center. However, seeing that the bus was leaving, I thought in my mind, ok, ok, let me get another similar route. But that bus was leaving as well. So I was left to trying to meet the bus that just left me. Because this bus makes a circular route to the point it goes out. So I tried to get to the station before the bus meets me. I missed it! And the next bus was about 45 minutes. So I just got me car service and call it the day.
For $35 dollars, I was able to pick up my packages at a mail drop place. Than shopping for groceries. Had I taken the bus, I would have saved about $15.
I had used the bus for picking up groceries (before covid), but certain bus drivers complain I was blocking isle. And when I put my bag on the seats, they say they are going to have start paying for the seats. These are coming from low income drivers who make minimal wages. But crab in a barrel mentality.
The amount of harassment that I get from bus drivers from simply just using the bus adds to the frustration. So if I can't walk to certain places, I just get an Uber.
Many more people who can't afford or want the expense of an automobile is choosing this option.
You put in your ride and within 10 to 15 minutes, they are there to pick you up. You ride for about 15/20 minutes average and you are there at your designation without any problems.
So of my best conversations have came from car service drivers. They are always usually friendly.
So it is much bigger than just frequency and routing. But if the bus was more frequent, I could make more trips, which would mean less things I would have to carry per trip.
But as it stands, the system figured they are doing you a favor by offer you a service. But often times it's like that service does not even exist, because of the aforementioned diary I just wrote.
The train that runs between Tacoma and Seattle is great… if you work 9 to 5 Monday through Friday. Buts sucks if you live in the real work force, or want to take the train to Seattle on the weekend
14:45 on this. I got a very busy intersection I take on my way to work that is exactly like this. Its so confusing it has these great LED pedestrian warning signs and yet it alows cars to make rights on red while the cross walk is in use. makes no sense
You can have density without transit. It is how all old cities were before transit, People walked. if a place is mixed use, nobody will have to walk far
Although yes you do need density for Transit, that is true.
I was in Germany recently, in a medium size city where I used to work and I didn’t want to wear a mask on the public transport such as the buses and street cars where it is still required to wear a mask.
So I walked everywhere to visit my friends into the shops, in the bakeries and do you know what I walked 2 to 6 km or more every day and at the end of my trip I lost about 8 pounds and I needed to lose weight I guess driving in my car and not walking as much and large portions in restaurants in American made me gain weight ha ha.
I sure wish some places besides New York City, San Francisco etc. so medium size cities to small size cities or more like Europe that they had that are public transport by cleans walk ability etc.
I like the taste of good busses
By the looks of it, the signage is junk. Here in the UK but also in Ireland, Hong Kong, Singapore and a few other places there are road markings to designate a BUS STOP which is mostly a yellow or white box with the text "BUS STOP" in English and the local langauge (i.e. Welsh in Wales. Irish in Ireland, Cantonese in Hong Kong, etc.) and so I'm surprised that a road marking like this isn't used in more places since it's a good advertisement that public transport runs here especially since most people look down, not up...
4:15 So what I'm getting from this is, we should consider adding some expert vanilla City Skylines players to the boards of municipal transit agencies.
The busses have to be replaced with light rail street cars which have every where exclusive routes and the stations have to be treated as first class mode of transit. This means there are no tunnels or bridges to reach the stations. The cars can go underground or climb bridges if they need to.
gotta love rtc. i’d say about 30% of the buses i try to take never show up, and the ones that do are absolutely always late
Sadly in Orlando we can relate to this as well. Often times it is faster for me to ride my bike 8 miles (~35 min) to the sunrail station instead of taking the bus (~40 min). The lines haven't had a major update in decades and the only lines being improved are the ones with high ridership already instead of improving/expanding into less well served areas.
Thank you for articulating what so many of us feel when using transit in an excellent video!
Make sure you take bus 22, and not 22A. Otherwise you'll end up in the middle of nowhere after a brief stop in Crackton. On the bright side, if you wander around for a bit you might find Area 51-A.
Just don't try to talk to the driver or he'll tap the sign.
I’m a car enthusiasts but, commuting to work by car sucks and would rather use public transportation but had no choice because my workplace is surrounded by stroads and parking garages. I absolutely loathe stroads.
Does the street or stroad have more than one lane in either direction? Then it is a road. If vehicle traffic can move faster than 30km/h, then it is also a road.
Just the idea of having urban roads without sidewalks is just so wrong.
I’ve said before that too many (north) Americans see public transit as welfare for the poor rather than a public service.
Watching this video: "How did he get all this footage of Portage/Kalamazoo MI?"
Even the mall circle bus stop thing... all the places are so samey
Because we have a mix of business and state.
That’s why every major street that uses a bus should be required to have a dedicated bus lane on either side. Also public transit should be given the right of way by cars.
They should receive funding based on number of routes and frequency of busses on that route.
As a Torontonian who lives just a few miles from North York Centre, I was pleasantly surprised when you mentioned it at 20:12, even more so since I was thinking about that area a few moments prior to the mention of the study. While it's incredibly dense with residential and office towers that are right above one of the busiest subway lines in North America which give it a level of density not seen in any other suburban downtown on the continent, there are still some issues with it however. Namely that Yonge Street which runs through the middle of North York Centre is still a six lane wide stroad where it can be uncomfortable to walk through at times despite the density, and that the immediate area adjacent to North York Centre is still low density single family homes. If these two major issues are resolved, then North York Centre will achieve its potential as an ideal model of what a dense suburban North American city should look it.
3:45 Well, any handicapped person that would be interested in using that bus stop would be... unable to do so. We've got several stops like that in our town, although only one is quite that bad (without any sidewalk). There's one stop in Campustown (I live in a town with a state university in it) where there's no cut curb AND because of the street parking, the bus can't pull up to the sidewalk. Ppl using wheelchairs literally can't use that stop - it's in the middle of a block and they'd have to either try to jump the curb (something that's pretty dangerous) or try to weave between parked cars and traffic to get to the corner where there is a cut curb.
There's very little effort put into making sure that bus stops are handicap accessible. I've seen bus drivers opt to stop and let wheelchair and walker users off at a crosswalk (blocking the cross-street) because the bus stop is in an inaccessible location for them. And if it's that bad in a college town where about half of the funding for the buses is from the university, it's going to be much worse in non-university towns.
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I have so many questions concerning your contrast & comparisons, your inferences, and lack of history of the Reno area's infrastructure. First, are you able to point to positive improvements to the infrastructure around Reno? How useful is a contrast/comparison of a city of nearly 300k people (Reno) to a city of over 6 million like Toronto, Canada? Population density and the social structures of a particular location will have a larger concern on development of major roads vs. secondary roads than I believe you are considering. There's a reason why McCarran Blvd was built the way it was vs. Wedekind Rd. and that is worth a look to understand our infrastructure. I believe that a look at the success of Hot August Nights will provide greater insight of roads vs. streets vs. stroads for your videos. You have made a few good points (mostly on methodology) but tuning your criticism to a more reasonable level requires more research from other subjects - I suggest some Sociology of communities and families. Another is geology to understand why Reno has so many ephemeral streams and their effect on Reno's infrastructure. There was a notable developer in the 1800s whom traveled through Nevada - he wanted to create a paradise of green fields and lush forests from the open space here, but there's a huge reason why that is an impossibility for Nevada. Reno's history could provide you with pleasant surprises about our infrastructure ; as an example, why did the one-way street named Sierra Street have linked traffic lights in the 70s to the 90s? Of course, the best venue for suggestions of changes to the infrastructures around Reno is here in CZcams for the Reno City Council meetings at www.youtube.com/@cityofreno.
transit development! rest of the world i can get a coffee while I wait for a bus
So guys in charge of public transit in Reno are in the "people like cars lets build more roads" crowd?
If you want an idea for your next video, why not do one on all possible geometric configurations of parking lots
Guy from Italy here
Sometimes, when I see contents from America, I feel glad that at least I live in Europe (not considering that places like Italy are Europe's US in terms of public transport)
We need more and better transit options now in North America!
Public transport infrastructure actually had good railway systems at one time, but it was systematically dismantled by special interests. Am I wrong?
Personal wheeled metal boxes need to die. A developed society doesn't need these expensive and wasteful contraptions.
Businesses, stadiums, hotels etc. should view public transport as the default mode of transportation. 'How to reach us" should at first explain to reach them by public transport. Just step out of the tram and walk 50 meters to the entrance. How about that?
Gustavo Petro really has come a long way since he said that hehe
That one argument about the reason why they don't need to invest in buses sounds like an argument but we don't need a bridge over the lake to connect to two lands we can just have speed boats and yachts. I mean yeah some people would love a speedboat or a yacht but not everyone wants one and not everyone wants to have to pay to take care of one. Nor can everyone afford it. And some people will have to use clunker boats that barely go anywhere while they could have had an efficient bridge that would have cut travel time and been more available for everyone.
Not the fact that it's a feedback loop, if you don't invest in public transportation you decrease the need for public transportation therefore people have to rely on alternative means like driving a car. Public transportation is like Bridges for everyone, where cars are like individual boats in a lake. Yes in some areas where there is a low density of population probably building any expensive bridge to connect one land to another but certainly might be not feasible.
oh geez, I love it when they claim cutbacks because ridership is reduced and that in turn reduces ridership.
So, you want to know how to increase ridership with those lines? add more lines and connect the services, you don't need wifi you just need to get people reliably from A to B with minimal hassle and you will be finding that more people will be using strategic lines.
THEN you can run it more often, like every 10 minutes often, in Australia if our bus is inconsistently coming every hour then we complain "that it hasn't been updated since the 1980's" and that line is quickly taken in for a spit and polish with connected services and possibly altered to go into areas that it wasn't using before to up the ridership...
taking things away from people just because "it isn't being used" is just taking people's freedom of choice away from them "you have the bus, train, tram, walk, car, uber" becomes "you have the car if you can afford one or uber if you can't" uber is not a solution, it's radioactive band-aid solution it may feel warm and fuzzy for a while until you discover the truth behind the band-aid and look under the band-aid to find necrosis has taken hold and long term effects are still not present to your eyes.
Bus shelter needs to be installed
I really hope the agency in charge (RTC?) watches this video
none of you gringo urbanist ever comment on the lack of basic services for transit users, I need to get my coffee while I wait for the bus
Here in San Diego, they “upgraded” busses but bus times are just plain awful.
here in London you'll get two buses on the same route at once sometimes
San Diegan here. It's much better than it used to be. They need to stop chasing marginal value-adds like WiFi on buses and just increase service. If they could run the current Saturday schedule on Sundays, run the non-peak weekday schedule on Saturday, and generally run peak service off-peak on weekdays - it would likely be used far more than it is now. From there they can think about adding new rail/tram lines and reworking buses so 40-minute bus rides become less common.
While I won't give MTS a free pass for some past decisions and some of the current scheduling issues, the collaboration between MTS, SANDAG and the city have been far better than a decade ago - and it shows, especially where bus-only infrastructure is in place.
My home town doesn't even have frequent buses. I have known people without cars who commute by Taxi.
I´m from Europe and I can´t stop thinking about the size of the cars of the b-roll. Those aren´t cars, those are tanks.
Welcome to America. It was never great.
Who invented the term "Stroad"? I though was NJB.